From Ancient Roots to Modern Bottles Armenia’s Journey to World-Class Wine Status

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Armenia can allow itself to produce

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entry level wines with a very cheap

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price. So we are positioning us as a quality wine

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producing country. The price of our wines is not so

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cheap. The wines are really very good and it's worth to pay

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for example 10, 15 Euro for the bottle of Armenian

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wine. Sit back and grab a glass. It's

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Wine Talks with Paul K.

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Hey, welcome to Wine Talks with Paul Kane. We are in studio today in beautiful

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Southern California, a little late in the evening actually about to have a conversation

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with Zara Muradian. Introductions in a minute. Hey, have a listen

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to actually her husband, Vagan. Vagan, I didn't even know

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that name. And it was a great conversation we had. He was in

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studio visiting Los Angeles and I think if you go back a couple

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episodes you'll find it and have a, a really interesting

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perspective after today's conversation. But Zara

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is the director of the vine and Wine foundation in Armenia as

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well as the founder of Zara Wines. Welcome to the show. Thank

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you, Bertien. You're welcome. You know,

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we did work hard to do this, so I'm glad we could do it.

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We are really very happy having this opportunity to talk with you.

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Yes, thank you. We. It was interesting. I, I listened to the

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seminar yesterday that was put on by

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the Panossian regarding the state of

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the Armenian wine industry and it had the regular players.

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Vahekshkari was on it, Amy was listening,

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Adam Klavanyan was on the show.

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And there are a couple of things that I thought were interesting that I

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didn't. Well, I wouldn't say I didn't know, but

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it was a different perspective. One of them was this idea

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where the Georgians think that they started wine and the

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Armenians think they started wine. And the concept kind of came

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out that there was no Georgia then and there was no Armenia and there

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was no Turkey and there was no Iran. It was just a lot of land.

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What's your position on that? We are

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positioning us as an ancient wine

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country because of this rich heritage,

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historical things and every. And in Armenia you can

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discover more and more that proving that Armenia is one of

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the oldest wine country. So but at the same

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time, especially in Soviet period,

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we became as a brand producing country, fortunately for

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us, but unfortunately for the wine producing,

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we lost at that time of our grape variety for the

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winemaking. And the renaissance started

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let's say in these 15 years

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due to this new investment, due to these nice

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people who are doing the really they making efforts

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to produce good quality wine now,

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let's say the same time it's a old.

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It's a newest country for the winemaking. Yes, we have

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these old traditions, everything like we are trying to keep

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this. At the same time the sector is booming during

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these 15 years. So what is happening inside of the

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country is happening during these 15 years. And we see that how the

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sector is developing and developing very fast. And

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we really trying to promote Armenia

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as one of the best quality wine producing

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country. At the same time promoting our heritage. The

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history and the oldest winery in

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Arenuanque discovered in this

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region. So it's again proof that Armenia is

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one of the ancient wine countries. They are not saying that

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Georgia or Greece, Lebanon, they are not

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older than Armenia. But these countries there they

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have this really charitage or the winemaking. So

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now trying to keep this promoting us as a

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modern country was producing really

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very good quality wine based on our

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varieties to technologies etc. What we are trying to

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use during our. It's interesting because

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we were there in 2007. I think I brought this up with

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Vagan. It was almost undrinkable

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and to see the progress in such a short amount of time. Because

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wine is a very slow industry, as you know.

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And here there are some. I would consider many of the

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wines out of Armenia right now as world class wines. They

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can hold up in anything. And I pour many at my home

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without. Without recognizing to my guests that they're

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Armenian wines. Yeah. And they always ask the question.

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Yeah. It's become very popular during these five years

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that we're trying to promote our wines in different

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international platforms and exhibitions. We send our wines

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for the different competitions. Every time we get

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awards from this competition is rising awareness of Armenian wine.

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Because no one know that Armenia is producing wine. Even in

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post Soviet countries. The people they know that we have not very

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good quality branding. But about wine there is no any

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information, knowledge, etc. Trying to rise

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awareness of our sector. Where did your

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interest in this come from?

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Like I'm a knowledge my background, I'm winemaker and

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I started my own professional

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way from the education. I did my PhD

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and I was teaching at university during 25

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years. So and when we

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decided to start, let's say development

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wine sector, we started from education. We were

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thinking that we need professionals in this

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sphere. So and we founded the Wine

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Academy with Icare and seminar

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company. We founded the Wine Academy with the

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Geisenheim University. Why we decided to do with

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the International University because we were thinking that this

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exchange program will be very, very helpful for our young

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generation to get this international experience.

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So we founded this Academy in

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2014. Let's say everything started from this

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our educational program, because

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we were inviting many international experts and we were

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sending our students for the internship in different

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wineries and universities. And now I'm really

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proudly presenting our

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young specialists who are working

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in the sector and supporting to

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develop this sector. Everything

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started from the education and

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thanks to our investors that they are. They were working

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with the international consultant who were very interested

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to come to Armenia and to support our producers to

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approve the quality of the wine. And these

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y people, they were working with this international consultant

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iron the wineries. And now, without any support, they are

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continuing their,

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how to say, the work in their minor

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education. The second, let's say,

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support for the sector. It's our foundation.

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When the sector became priority for the economy, the

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government decided to find special

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organization who will work with the sector with the

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producer, with the wine growers, with the education

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institutions, et cetera, to see how we

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can support them to improve all these

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aspects for the development of the sector. And we

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actively started to work with the whole sector, all

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producers, supporting them to present the wines in different,

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as I mentioned, different platforms. We are actively

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participating or international exhibitions. We are

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doing many promotional events, master classes. We are inviting many

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influencers, wine experts like we organizing

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B2B meetings for the producers that they

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support them to export the wine to different for us the

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targeted market and also

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supporting to develop the wine tourism, because it's something new for us

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and it's developing. We can see that many, many tourists now they come

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to Armenia to discover as a wine destination

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country is a wine destination. So. And we see how actively

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our producers, the wineries, they are investing

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in wine tourism businesses because many

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people, they. They want to come to discover, to stay in the

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region, to see what we have in

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region, not only the wine production, the winers, but also this historical

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places where again they can discover more about our

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history and traditions. So it is developing and we are

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doing many projects also in wine tourings and

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trying also support the

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institutions for developing the education. For example,

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we supported them to implement the dual

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education in the colleges where students will study

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and also work in their wineries and will get more

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experience in practical

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practices, et cetera. So we are evolved in the whole.

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There's a lot of things going on there. Yes, and

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we see the results because it's became very attractive

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for a very interesting country.

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The young Armenian adults. I mean, this is. As we discussed

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earlier, this is a slow business. You only do it once

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a year. And so it's interesting to hear that

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there's youth, young adults that are interested

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because it takes generations

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for it to work. And like I said earlier, it's amazing what I mean is

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done in such a short amount of time. What. Where are the tourists coming from?

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Are they Diasporan Armenians or are they.

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Yeah, mostly the funds come from the

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Armenians from abroad like. But we have also

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foreigner foreign investors as well because

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we have very for us

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important partner. Jacob

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Suler is from Switzerland and we

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decided to invest in Armenia as a one of the nation country.

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He traveled motor and he

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decided to invest in Armenia and they. They really

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produce very good quality wine and. And for us we really proud

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of this because it's international

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investor and and

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investing much in the wine business. Now they

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are also working to develop the wine tourism.

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They invite many tourists from

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partners France, from Switzerland and

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they come not just to discover the

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sugar's wines but also discover the whole

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Armenia. For us it's really very important and we

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are really very open and government is supporting for the investors

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and trying to solve many problems that they are

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facing during the investment. The government is really

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supporting much the investors and I think

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it's due to this investment store

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the sector became very, very attractive and

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impressive. How old is the vine

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and Wine Foundation? Because I remember it wasn't that long ago the government

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didn't seem to be that interested in what was going on. But it

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sounds like the sector of wine has become an important

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feature and area of concern

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for the government. Yeah, it's founded in

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2016 in August.

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So already eight years that we are working in the

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foundation and trying to develop

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the sector. So I think for the

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producer it's really very important organization because

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we united all producers together. Before even they

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didn't know each other. But due to

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this work that we are

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doing project that we are doing with the winemakers

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they became very good friends.

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Because it's really very interesting. For

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example, when we are presenting the wine on

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some exhibition. Let's say we are not just

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promoting. They are not just promoting their wines, they are promoting the country,

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they are promoting the sector, they are supporting each other.

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It's really very important for us. And it's the. Let's say

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it's the only organization

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the sector. Sorry that you can see that all together

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as one nice family working for one

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mission to promote the country as a winemaking country.

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And it's helped us very much to

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do more productive project

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in the field. Because otherwise if they will. If

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I will feel that they don't want to work together

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or they don't want to be in the same thread. For Mercer Pink, it's not

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doing in the right way. We will never get this

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successful results. And I'm really very

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thankful to them because they help me

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and they support me and we become more stronger together.

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You know, it's interesting. We have all the years I

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tasted wine, I was invited obviously to many, many, many

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tastings. I went to one, I'm going to one next week. I went to one

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last week. And many of them are put

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on by the region. So let's just

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say the Paso Roblest Vendors association or Napa

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Valley. And you know, you need money from

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those organizations. Is the government funding all this

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work or is it coming from the winemakers themselves or where is it coming from?

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The budget comes from the government. So the

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government supports the

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biggest part of the budget. But also the winemakers, they

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are investing in different projects.

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And also we are bringing

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budgets from the international organizations as well,

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from GIs, from the German government, first from

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the ARM, because we were actively working with

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USAID. They started to support the sector, but

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unfortunately it's closed. But trying

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to also bring money from different international

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organizations and also flying from different

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00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:19,400
grants especially to do some researches, et cetera.

256
00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:22,800
So trying to bring more as we can.

257
00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:27,200
And the producers is also

258
00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:30,660
participating in this process and such.

259
00:16:31,380 --> 00:16:35,060
But the most budget comes from the government. And we

260
00:16:35,060 --> 00:16:38,020
have the board, the five

261
00:16:38,580 --> 00:16:41,540
members of the board from the government and

262
00:16:42,260 --> 00:16:45,540
six members from the government and five from the private sector.

263
00:16:45,780 --> 00:16:49,380
It's a really very interesting platform that they all

264
00:16:50,020 --> 00:16:53,620
together discussing the importance of the sector

265
00:16:53,780 --> 00:16:57,040
and of the project. And after that, when

266
00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:01,360
they approved the project, we are starting the implementation

267
00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:05,440
process. That sounds like

268
00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:09,040
a great balance because I think

269
00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:12,600
it's important that the winemakers in the private sector have

270
00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:16,440
representation on a board like that in

271
00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:20,160
America. They actually in some

272
00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:24,009
cases will tax the vintners so

273
00:17:24,009 --> 00:17:27,369
that there's some kind of fun coming from the grape

274
00:17:27,529 --> 00:17:31,289
harvest by the ton, whatever it is. And then that money

275
00:17:31,289 --> 00:17:34,489
goes into the government pool and then the vintners

276
00:17:34,969 --> 00:17:38,409
get to decide how they want to promote it. So

277
00:17:38,569 --> 00:17:42,249
besides Russia, which we know is a great market for Armenian wines

278
00:17:42,249 --> 00:17:45,609
and part of that whole original USSR breakup,

279
00:17:46,729 --> 00:17:50,330
the efforts of the vine and Wine foundation have brought in

280
00:17:50,970 --> 00:17:54,770
Europeans, Chinese. Where, where, where are the new

281
00:17:54,770 --> 00:17:58,090
markets that you've seen Armenian wines land?

282
00:18:00,570 --> 00:18:04,370
China, as you mentioned, Russia is

283
00:18:04,370 --> 00:18:08,170
our. The biggest market, 85% we are

284
00:18:08,170 --> 00:18:11,690
exporting to Russia. But it's

285
00:18:12,810 --> 00:18:16,480
very complicated market for us because

286
00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:20,080
of this political situation, et cetera. Et cetera.

287
00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:22,000
So for that we are trying to

288
00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:27,400
discover new market for our producer. The second market for us

289
00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:28,000
is us

290
00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:34,480
because maybe because of the diaspora, because

291
00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:40,160
it's a wine consuming country and

292
00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:43,910
they want to discover interesting wine from

293
00:18:44,070 --> 00:18:47,350
new regions, etc. For us is really very huge

294
00:18:47,350 --> 00:18:51,070
opportunity to present in US market. At the

295
00:18:51,070 --> 00:18:54,750
same time we are actively again because of maybe the air

296
00:18:54,750 --> 00:18:58,509
sprint satire we are sailing in

297
00:18:58,509 --> 00:19:02,030
some European countries. It's France with

298
00:19:02,030 --> 00:19:05,870
Italy, it's Belgium, it's Germany. So every year we

299
00:19:05,870 --> 00:19:09,710
were participating. On. Probain,

300
00:19:09,710 --> 00:19:13,390
it's one of the biggest international exhibition.

301
00:19:13,470 --> 00:19:17,150
But next year we will not participate. We will go to Vimex

302
00:19:17,150 --> 00:19:20,990
Pro Pairings because this exhibition became more international

303
00:19:21,390 --> 00:19:25,150
than Provane and they will try to present

304
00:19:25,390 --> 00:19:28,190
there. And for us,

305
00:19:28,990 --> 00:19:32,430
you know, the volume of our production is not so big

306
00:19:32,910 --> 00:19:36,570
and we are printing and we are not. Armenia

307
00:19:36,970 --> 00:19:40,810
can't allow itself to produce non quality

308
00:19:41,770 --> 00:19:44,810
entry level, let's say wines with a very

309
00:19:46,410 --> 00:19:50,130
cheap price. So we are positioning us as a quality

310
00:19:50,130 --> 00:19:53,570
wine producing country and the price of our

311
00:19:53,570 --> 00:19:56,890
wines is not so cheap, let's say.

312
00:19:57,290 --> 00:20:00,090
I'm not saying that it's expensive but

313
00:20:01,100 --> 00:20:04,660
that the wines is really very important. It's worth to pay for

314
00:20:04,660 --> 00:20:08,460
example 10, 15 Euro for the bottle of Armenian wine.

315
00:20:08,460 --> 00:20:11,180
So for that for us it's really very interesting.

316
00:20:12,700 --> 00:20:15,500
The countries which are wine consuming countries,

317
00:20:16,300 --> 00:20:19,420
they can allow them to drink good

318
00:20:19,820 --> 00:20:23,500
quality wines of wine. And based on this we are participating

319
00:20:23,580 --> 00:20:27,420
in different, as I mentioned, Iran.

320
00:20:27,870 --> 00:20:31,630
There we can present the wine and to open the doors for our wines

321
00:20:32,510 --> 00:20:35,310
it's England, uk, it's

322
00:20:36,670 --> 00:20:40,110
Japan that we were this year

323
00:20:40,590 --> 00:20:44,310
first time we participated on exhibition and we see that they

324
00:20:44,310 --> 00:20:47,990
really very much like our wine. And it's the first time

325
00:20:47,990 --> 00:20:51,630
that we sit and after exhibition at Tylist,

326
00:20:51,950 --> 00:20:55,070
our producers started negotiation with the importers

327
00:20:55,690 --> 00:20:59,370
to start the business, et cetera. So I think the Japan

328
00:20:59,370 --> 00:21:02,810
is for us interesting market. It's a European and new

329
00:21:03,210 --> 00:21:07,010
countries in the uk. But the second market for sure it's the

330
00:21:07,010 --> 00:21:10,690
US and unfortunately we

331
00:21:10,690 --> 00:21:14,250
are not so much active in US market because of the

332
00:21:14,250 --> 00:21:18,090
budget. Last time we participated in

333
00:21:18,090 --> 00:21:21,690
New York for the exhibition and

334
00:21:21,690 --> 00:21:25,520
it's. It's. It was really very expensive. And now

335
00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:29,000
we are making strategy

336
00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:33,080
especially for US market and it will

337
00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:36,760
be actual plan that how we are, what we are

338
00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:39,960
doing and how we are entering this market. But

339
00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:43,320
for us the second important market is us.

340
00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:48,040
You know, it's a. You said a lot of important things then,

341
00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:51,870
one of them being the fact that Armenia is not going to try

342
00:21:51,870 --> 00:21:55,630
and compete you know, in the yellow tail floor stack,

343
00:21:55,790 --> 00:21:59,550
you know, $5, in this case, wines, because

344
00:21:59,550 --> 00:22:03,350
it's a very competitive market. But the market is very competitive

345
00:22:03,350 --> 00:22:06,910
already. And with the consolidation of distributors in America,

346
00:22:06,910 --> 00:22:10,430
particularly Los Angeles, it's not any easier than it was

347
00:22:10,510 --> 00:22:14,230
before. But I was just thinking,

348
00:22:14,230 --> 00:22:18,050
I just got an invitation two days ago to a Georgian

349
00:22:18,450 --> 00:22:21,330
tasting put on by a local

350
00:22:21,970 --> 00:22:25,690
psalm who's very well known. He's got a very big list. And I'm going to

351
00:22:25,690 --> 00:22:29,490
sort of float this idea to you because Guinea Fest is coming.

352
00:22:30,130 --> 00:22:33,690
But Guinea Fest is turned away from being just a

353
00:22:33,690 --> 00:22:37,410
wine show. It's more of a cultural show, which is great. I think the

354
00:22:37,410 --> 00:22:40,850
new location on the street is going to make it more of a festival,

355
00:22:41,490 --> 00:22:45,010
which is really good. But one of the things that I tried to impress

356
00:22:45,090 --> 00:22:47,250
upon Anoush and

357
00:22:48,370 --> 00:22:52,210
Stepan Partamian was if you wanted to promote

358
00:22:52,210 --> 00:22:55,890
the Armenian wine consumption at restaurants, particularly,

359
00:22:56,130 --> 00:22:59,810
we need to get the buyers to come taste the wines. Yeah.

360
00:22:59,810 --> 00:23:03,450
And typically in America, I would be invited two

361
00:23:03,450 --> 00:23:06,210
hours before the rest of the trade

362
00:23:07,580 --> 00:23:11,340
so I could taste wine without anybody bothering me and get through

363
00:23:11,340 --> 00:23:15,100
a lot of wines. You know, I would do a hundred wines in one thing.

364
00:23:16,780 --> 00:23:20,020
And that's probably not going to happen this time with Guinea Fest. But the point

365
00:23:20,020 --> 00:23:23,820
I want to make is, wow, I'm being invited to a Georgian only

366
00:23:23,820 --> 00:23:27,340
tasting. Do you think that that would happen

367
00:23:27,900 --> 00:23:31,500
through the government of Armenia? Maybe in five.

368
00:23:31,580 --> 00:23:35,420
Maybe in five cities in America, New York, Dallas,

369
00:23:35,900 --> 00:23:39,500
Los Angeles, Denver, whatever. That you

370
00:23:39,500 --> 00:23:43,100
would organize a place and

371
00:23:43,100 --> 00:23:46,820
time for buyers, people that buy wine to

372
00:23:46,820 --> 00:23:50,540
taste wine. We had this experience and

373
00:23:50,540 --> 00:23:54,379
we were discussing with the guinea fest organizer, Angers,

374
00:23:54,379 --> 00:23:58,100
Mr. Pan, how we can be involved in these, Francis,

375
00:23:58,100 --> 00:24:01,780
and how we can professionally promote the wines. Because

376
00:24:01,780 --> 00:24:04,940
it's. For example, we have this

377
00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:09,960
wine dance festival. It's one of the hugest festival in

378
00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:13,280
Armenia. But somehow just

379
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:17,360
to meet the professional people in this festival is impossible

380
00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:20,960
because it's crowdy, so many people, they come

381
00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:25,000
the music, etc. They don't allow them to discuss with the

382
00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,760
producer to get more knowledge and information about their

383
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:31,520
wines. So for that we are organizing

384
00:24:32,450 --> 00:24:36,050
master classes for professionals. Unfortunately, we

385
00:24:36,050 --> 00:24:39,810
didn't. We haven't done looking in us yet,

386
00:24:40,130 --> 00:24:43,730
but we had this experience with European countries. We organized the

387
00:24:43,730 --> 00:24:46,770
roadshow. So last year we visited

388
00:24:47,490 --> 00:24:51,010
different countries and we were presenting,

389
00:24:51,890 --> 00:24:55,530
doing the presentation for the whole country, for the

390
00:24:55,530 --> 00:24:58,930
wine sector. We were talking about our

391
00:24:58,930 --> 00:25:02,530
regions, about our grape varieties, about technologies,

392
00:25:02,530 --> 00:25:06,270
traditions, etc. And after that, the producer,

393
00:25:06,270 --> 00:25:09,870
they are presenting their wines and giving

394
00:25:09,870 --> 00:25:13,150
more Information about the wines and about their company.

395
00:25:13,470 --> 00:25:17,310
And after that we were organizing B2B meetings

396
00:25:17,310 --> 00:25:20,990
that we gave them platform to meet with these

397
00:25:21,550 --> 00:25:25,150
experts and to negotiate with

398
00:25:25,150 --> 00:25:28,270
them to get this, to have this

399
00:25:31,860 --> 00:25:35,500
exchange conversations in Century Century. So

400
00:25:35,500 --> 00:25:38,900
it's helped them to get first to it

401
00:25:39,060 --> 00:25:42,900
for us. First to promote the country, the second to give

402
00:25:42,900 --> 00:25:44,340
the platform for the business,

403
00:25:48,980 --> 00:25:52,620
the exchange and also to rise up

404
00:25:52,620 --> 00:25:55,620
rooms of Armenia and buy the company rights.

405
00:25:56,590 --> 00:26:00,190
It's really. And after this event

406
00:26:00,270 --> 00:26:03,870
we organized visits to different shops

407
00:26:04,190 --> 00:26:06,190
and the boutique shops and

408
00:26:07,230 --> 00:26:10,750
supermarkets were presented. They want to give this also information

409
00:26:10,830 --> 00:26:14,470
to our producer to understand who are the competitors in

410
00:26:14,470 --> 00:26:17,470
this country, how the price policies

411
00:26:18,350 --> 00:26:21,950
happening in this country, et cetera, to meet with the

412
00:26:23,490 --> 00:26:27,010
people are selling the wine, to understand how they are

413
00:26:27,010 --> 00:26:30,850
selling, what kind of tools they should use, what kind of marketing tools

414
00:26:30,850 --> 00:26:34,530
they should use for promoting their wines, etc. It was

415
00:26:34,530 --> 00:26:38,050
really very good experience for our producers. And we are

416
00:26:38,130 --> 00:26:41,810
now trying to continue this. And we will be very happy that

417
00:26:41,810 --> 00:26:45,610
if we will have opportunity to do the same in US market to

418
00:26:45,610 --> 00:26:49,340
meet all these people. Because sitting here and thinking

419
00:26:49,340 --> 00:26:53,180
about US Market, what we can do, not knowing these people

420
00:26:53,180 --> 00:26:56,900
in the market, it's really very difficult to enter to this

421
00:26:56,900 --> 00:27:00,740
market. So for that we need to organize more activities in US

422
00:27:00,820 --> 00:27:04,580
Market and it will help our producers to

423
00:27:05,620 --> 00:27:08,660
get more information about markets,

424
00:27:09,220 --> 00:27:12,860
this specific market, et cetera. You know, it's

425
00:27:12,860 --> 00:27:15,550
a. The main issue

426
00:27:16,670 --> 00:27:20,190
that has always been the wine is an

427
00:27:20,190 --> 00:27:23,950
emotional decision. It's an emotional

428
00:27:23,950 --> 00:27:27,470
product. I tasted a bar stack

429
00:27:27,870 --> 00:27:31,190
not too long ago or the tasting Mouton Rashield

430
00:27:31,190 --> 00:27:34,950
tasting. And my comment to the presenter was this

431
00:27:34,950 --> 00:27:38,110
is one of the most emotional smell

432
00:27:38,270 --> 00:27:41,860
noses I've ever put my nose into a glass. And it was after

433
00:27:41,860 --> 00:27:45,460
35 years of doing this that was. It

434
00:27:45,460 --> 00:27:49,020
stopped me in my tracks. And that. That made me think a lot

435
00:27:49,020 --> 00:27:52,500
about, you know, why it takes so long, why people are

436
00:27:52,500 --> 00:27:56,140
hesitant to try these things. And I'm going to

437
00:27:56,140 --> 00:27:59,820
switch gears on you a little bit. And this conversation

438
00:27:59,820 --> 00:28:03,500
came up in the seminar I listened to this morning,

439
00:28:04,300 --> 00:28:07,780
but it's always been around. And I'm going to tell you a story about a

440
00:28:07,780 --> 00:28:11,350
Moldavian wine that came here, Maybe it was 30 years

441
00:28:11,350 --> 00:28:15,190
ago, and it was called Hickory Ridge, which is a very

442
00:28:15,190 --> 00:28:18,990
American, Southern American thing to say. And

443
00:28:18,990 --> 00:28:22,470
it, and it, it said. And the label said

444
00:28:22,470 --> 00:28:26,110
Cabernet Sauvignon on it, okay. And then on the back it said

445
00:28:26,110 --> 00:28:26,950
bottled in

446
00:28:29,670 --> 00:28:32,150
New York or they did everything they could

447
00:28:33,430 --> 00:28:36,230
to not tell you it was Moldavian

448
00:28:37,490 --> 00:28:41,170
by the name and by the bottling statement and all the government stuff

449
00:28:41,250 --> 00:28:45,050
until it said, you know, produced in Moldavia or grapes from

450
00:28:45,050 --> 00:28:48,450
Moldova. I can't remember exactly what it was. And that leads me to this

451
00:28:48,450 --> 00:28:52,050
conversation about, you know, the Armenians were a very proud country. We have

452
00:28:52,050 --> 00:28:55,770
the grapes, the indigenous grapes are amazing. They can make really

453
00:28:55,770 --> 00:28:59,330
great wines. But then there's that whole concept

454
00:29:00,290 --> 00:29:03,650
about indigenous grapes and explaining them. Another

455
00:29:04,510 --> 00:29:08,190
headwind, another, you know, another requirement to

456
00:29:08,350 --> 00:29:12,070
educate the consumer versus let's

457
00:29:12,070 --> 00:29:15,750
put some Chardonnay in the bottle and let's get some Merlot and some Cabernet and

458
00:29:15,750 --> 00:29:19,390
let's see what happens. What's your position? I know you

459
00:29:19,390 --> 00:29:22,990
make Adeni and Voskahat and Hungun and the, you know, the

460
00:29:22,990 --> 00:29:26,190
regular indigenous grapes, but what is the

461
00:29:26,510 --> 00:29:30,070
government's take on this? What's the vine and Wines foundation on the

462
00:29:30,070 --> 00:29:33,230
idea of presenting French varietals

463
00:29:34,510 --> 00:29:35,710
from Armenian soil?

464
00:29:38,190 --> 00:29:40,430
We are really based

465
00:29:42,590 --> 00:29:45,150
on our indigenous varieties because

466
00:29:46,749 --> 00:29:50,590
we have this huge biodiversity. When

467
00:29:51,630 --> 00:29:55,430
the FAO supported

468
00:29:55,430 --> 00:29:58,850
us to plan the collection venue, they brought

469
00:29:59,010 --> 00:30:02,210
all these samples from different vineyards

470
00:30:02,690 --> 00:30:06,050
and they planted the vineyard. When I became

471
00:30:06,530 --> 00:30:09,970
to this position, we decided to do genotype and phenotype

472
00:30:09,970 --> 00:30:13,650
analysis to understand what we have in this collection vineyard. And

473
00:30:13,650 --> 00:30:17,250
we understood that we have many really very interesting

474
00:30:17,490 --> 00:30:20,770
grape varieties that even we don't use it, and even

475
00:30:21,570 --> 00:30:24,460
they don't have the name either, these varieties.

476
00:30:26,220 --> 00:30:29,620
Now we gave the passports to this

477
00:30:29,620 --> 00:30:32,780
variety and we register it in international

478
00:30:33,500 --> 00:30:37,180
database that it's Armenian indigenous

479
00:30:37,980 --> 00:30:41,820
or local varieties. Now we are trying

480
00:30:41,980 --> 00:30:45,620
to discover more and more and also to

481
00:30:45,620 --> 00:30:49,380
do through the microvinification, to see the potential of

482
00:30:49,380 --> 00:30:53,040
this grape for the winemaking and to promote this wine. But for

483
00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:56,200
us, the visiting cup, it's Areny, it's

484
00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:59,600
Voskihat, it's Kafet, it's Chendormi. There's all

485
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:03,400
indigenous varieties that approve that quality. The

486
00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:07,120
wine made from this variety is really very impressive

487
00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:10,840
and interesting. So I'm trying to promote this grape

488
00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:14,600
and also the investors, they are planting the wine with

489
00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:18,000
this grape variety. We have another also

490
00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:21,860
practice that, you know, the Renaissance,

491
00:31:21,940 --> 00:31:24,980
let's say Renaissance of Armenia started from

492
00:31:25,700 --> 00:31:29,460
different companies. For us is most important.

493
00:31:29,700 --> 00:31:33,540
One is the Karas. The Karas, when they decided to

494
00:31:34,020 --> 00:31:37,380
invest in wine business, Mr. Ermikian,

495
00:31:37,620 --> 00:31:41,300
at that time when they started the business, we

496
00:31:41,300 --> 00:31:44,580
still don't have the nurseries, and they couldn't find the

497
00:31:44,580 --> 00:31:48,420
nurseries based on Armenian indigenous varieties. And they decided to

498
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:52,320
to bring in Armenia the international

499
00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:56,480
varieties. And it was the first, let's say, the quality

500
00:31:56,480 --> 00:32:00,080
wine in the country made from

501
00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:03,880
this grape variety by Gara's company, that shows that

502
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:07,440
we have this huge potential for the winemaking. But

503
00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:10,960
nowadays, even the Garas, they're using

504
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:15,080
international, using indigenous varieties. They are doing interesting

505
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:17,960
blending because for the consumer, for the international

506
00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:22,160
consumers, it's interesting to discover the wines based on

507
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:25,640
their indigenous and local varieties. For that

508
00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:29,400
now we are very much as a government promoting our

509
00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:33,080
indigenous varieties. And we see that we have huge potential using

510
00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:36,200
our local varieties. Not so much bringing international

511
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:39,160
varieties, but some producer, for example,

512
00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:43,560
Alexandria Winery, Adam Kaplanian, they decided to start a

513
00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:47,280
business based on international varieties. And it's one of the best

514
00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:51,020
chart in Armenia that really, when they are presenting

515
00:32:51,020 --> 00:32:54,780
this word, Chandonia for Armenia, it's recently, it's

516
00:32:54,780 --> 00:32:58,420
really very interesting. The people want to see what is

517
00:32:58,500 --> 00:33:01,860
Armenia Chardonnayan.

518
00:33:03,140 --> 00:33:06,260
But let's say it's

519
00:33:06,660 --> 00:33:09,300
97% of

520
00:33:10,740 --> 00:33:12,100
vineyards, they are based

521
00:33:15,140 --> 00:33:18,740
the local varieties, etc. So I think having

522
00:33:18,740 --> 00:33:22,460
this opportunity, having this, let's say heritage wine will

523
00:33:22,460 --> 00:33:26,260
not use and promote our local varieties instead of using

524
00:33:26,260 --> 00:33:29,700
international varieties. But we are not saying that it's not

525
00:33:30,020 --> 00:33:32,340
interesting or the quality is not good,

526
00:33:33,540 --> 00:33:37,260
but trying to promote. And we are doing the

527
00:33:37,260 --> 00:33:40,980
project based on indigenous. Right.

528
00:33:41,540 --> 00:33:45,380
It's really interesting couple. You

529
00:33:45,380 --> 00:33:48,500
should see this. There are like these different

530
00:33:48,580 --> 00:33:52,420
altitudes. The highest altitude in Valozone,

531
00:33:52,900 --> 00:33:56,740
it's in Vallestone. You will see this view

532
00:33:57,060 --> 00:34:00,780
with the small things and thermals, volcanic soil and so

533
00:34:00,780 --> 00:34:04,420
many interesting varieties that you can find in this

534
00:34:04,420 --> 00:34:07,970
region. And now we are working with

535
00:34:07,970 --> 00:34:11,650
the producers to have the first GI in

536
00:34:11,650 --> 00:34:15,010
Vayo region. Because we don't have geographic

537
00:34:15,010 --> 00:34:18,770
indications, et cetera. We are now working to have the first

538
00:34:18,770 --> 00:34:22,050
GI biostore because the thermal is really

539
00:34:22,529 --> 00:34:26,130
amazing, not only in Biostar, in all wine

540
00:34:26,130 --> 00:34:29,810
regions. It's really very interesting. And because of the

541
00:34:29,810 --> 00:34:33,530
climate, because of the soil type, because of

542
00:34:33,530 --> 00:34:37,200
technology, because of the people. When I was doing the review,

543
00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:40,720
what impressed you much was that the people,

544
00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:44,880
the winemakers, the people, what they are doing is

545
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:48,520
amazing. They are doing everything with the

546
00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:51,920
heart, with the emotions, as you mentioned, it's

547
00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:54,960
emotional product. And it's really

548
00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:57,680
nothing that you just present the wine

549
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:02,480
on online platforms or you're just talking about

550
00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:05,890
is not tasting. It's something totally different.

551
00:35:06,290 --> 00:35:09,450
When they meet with the winemakers, when they talk with the

552
00:35:09,450 --> 00:35:13,010
winemakers, when they visit their vineyards and they see

553
00:35:13,890 --> 00:35:17,170
how much effort they are putting

554
00:35:17,490 --> 00:35:20,530
in this business, it's really interesting.

555
00:35:21,170 --> 00:35:23,970
You know, I just. You trigger a thought and

556
00:35:24,930 --> 00:35:28,050
I see, I see everybody on this show.

557
00:35:28,770 --> 00:35:31,570
I mean, I've done almost 500 episodes. So I've

558
00:35:32,310 --> 00:35:35,670
quite, quite a variety of people and

559
00:35:36,630 --> 00:35:40,350
it can only be from passion, particularly in the

560
00:35:40,350 --> 00:35:43,950
Armenian case. I mean, it takes passion to be in this

561
00:35:43,950 --> 00:35:47,750
business anyway. But I see two types of passion. I see business

562
00:35:47,750 --> 00:35:51,270
passion where somebody's trying to create a unique package. Or

563
00:35:52,070 --> 00:35:55,590
there's a woman in here just recently got

564
00:35:55,830 --> 00:35:59,450
her wines into Whole Foods and they're in a

565
00:35:59,450 --> 00:36:03,090
375 bottle that looks like a vast water bottle.

566
00:36:03,330 --> 00:36:06,810
That's. That's business passion because the wine inside is

567
00:36:06,810 --> 00:36:10,650
okay. But if you're an Armenian winemaker, not

568
00:36:10,650 --> 00:36:14,289
only do you have to have passion to do it as a

569
00:36:14,289 --> 00:36:17,890
winemaker, but you know, you've got many more headwinds in this industry

570
00:36:17,890 --> 00:36:21,530
than the regular if you're, than if you're in Napa or if you're in Bordeaux

571
00:36:21,530 --> 00:36:24,290
or Burgundy, because you're starting from scratch everywhere.

572
00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:28,560
Juliana. You know, one of my early podcasts

573
00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:32,400
with, with an Armenian winemaker was Juliana, and she was

574
00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:35,840
talking about Michel Roland coming to the Arad Valley

575
00:36:36,240 --> 00:36:39,840
and saying, you can grow grapes here.

576
00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:44,200
It'll take us a hundred years to figure out what it

577
00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:47,760
can do in the reality. To me it's,

578
00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:51,890
you know, been what, 20 years. You. They've figured out

579
00:36:51,890 --> 00:36:55,690
a lot of things since then. And because it's a unique

580
00:36:55,690 --> 00:36:59,530
situation, it really is old world, right? I mean,

581
00:36:59,530 --> 00:37:03,250
6,100 years old at least. But because

582
00:37:03,250 --> 00:37:07,090
of the USSR, it's really new world in

583
00:37:07,090 --> 00:37:10,090
its approach because we're just learning.

584
00:37:11,450 --> 00:37:15,090
And I will say that Adam's wines, the Chardonnay in

585
00:37:15,090 --> 00:37:18,510
particular, was very modern. You know, I tasted

586
00:37:18,590 --> 00:37:22,190
last week. They had a very modern character.

587
00:37:22,830 --> 00:37:26,550
And that's great for some people, it's great for some markets. And then

588
00:37:26,550 --> 00:37:30,030
you've got, for instance, the Voskavas Karasi collection,

589
00:37:30,190 --> 00:37:33,870
which has a very expressive old world character. And I love

590
00:37:33,870 --> 00:37:34,830
them all.

591
00:37:37,550 --> 00:37:41,230
So how is it then? I mean, how

592
00:37:41,230 --> 00:37:44,350
did we get the Concourmundia de Buxe

593
00:37:45,230 --> 00:37:48,990
to recognize Armenia as a place to come and do

594
00:37:48,990 --> 00:37:52,630
this magnanimous international tasting? How did that happen?

595
00:37:52,630 --> 00:37:53,470
Did you do that?

596
00:37:57,550 --> 00:38:00,430
In 2018

597
00:38:01,630 --> 00:38:05,470
I got invitation to become as a judge in Congressman Die.

598
00:38:05,950 --> 00:38:09,460
And it was my first experience to participate participate in this international

599
00:38:09,860 --> 00:38:13,140
competition. And in 2019,

600
00:38:14,420 --> 00:38:18,180
I just have this nice conversation with the organizer.

601
00:38:18,260 --> 00:38:21,860
If they are interested to organize, it's in Armenia

602
00:38:22,500 --> 00:38:26,020
at that time. They said it's good, but we should understand that

603
00:38:26,020 --> 00:38:29,620
Armenia is really wine country. Like you have this

604
00:38:30,820 --> 00:38:33,540
old facilities and potential to

605
00:38:34,180 --> 00:38:37,760
organize a in Armenia, et cetera. I

606
00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:41,080
invited them to come, but after that Covid started in Switzerland,

607
00:38:41,720 --> 00:38:44,840
but I again came with this

608
00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:49,000
request to them. And we became very good friends of the

609
00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:52,840
organizers. They asked them just come to Armenia. I just

610
00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:56,520
invite you as my friend, as guests to come to Armenia

611
00:38:56,520 --> 00:39:00,360
and to see what is Armenia and just discover

612
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:03,320
by yourself the country. And after that we will talk about

613
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:07,190
opportunity to watch the competition. At that time, I

614
00:39:07,190 --> 00:39:10,990
was 100% sure that they will be

615
00:39:10,990 --> 00:39:14,710
impressed. Wow. Usually it's

616
00:39:14,710 --> 00:39:18,310
happened, I'm saying the

617
00:39:18,310 --> 00:39:22,030
whole sector, not only the foundation, what we are doing, we are

618
00:39:22,030 --> 00:39:25,870
doing with a very open heart and emotions. We are really very

619
00:39:25,870 --> 00:39:28,030
patient. As you mentioned,

620
00:39:29,470 --> 00:39:33,270
I remember that when I first time invited

621
00:39:33,270 --> 00:39:37,110
the journalism from the Forbes magazine and he wrote me

622
00:39:37,110 --> 00:39:40,790
that okay, I will come, but I don't promise you that I will

623
00:39:40,790 --> 00:39:43,750
write something about Armenia. And

624
00:39:44,630 --> 00:39:48,350
just. You must know that no one

625
00:39:48,350 --> 00:39:51,869
will not know that I am the journalist from Forbes

626
00:39:51,869 --> 00:39:55,590
magazine. Like I just coming as a guest. And if

627
00:39:55,590 --> 00:39:59,430
I will be impressed, if you will impress me, I will

628
00:39:59,430 --> 00:40:03,240
write something. No, I'm not. I promise you that you will

629
00:40:03,240 --> 00:40:05,200
have our article that can come.

630
00:40:06,720 --> 00:40:10,160
Wow, very exciting. And he too, he wrote after his visit,

631
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:13,840
he wrote two articles about Armenia and he became

632
00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:18,000
very good friend of ours. And he's promoting us and

633
00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:21,680
supporting us. Whenever we need something, he is helping us. So.

634
00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:25,640
And the same happened with mondial. I was 100% sure that

635
00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:28,560
if they would decide to come to Armenia, we will impress.

636
00:40:30,430 --> 00:40:34,190
And so they came. They really very much like the country, the

637
00:40:34,190 --> 00:40:37,870
people. And I showed them the facilities, everything

638
00:40:38,110 --> 00:40:41,710
that for them or that

639
00:40:41,710 --> 00:40:45,510
time was really important to make the decisions, the venue

640
00:40:45,510 --> 00:40:48,830
and such. If we had enough venue to organize this

641
00:40:48,830 --> 00:40:52,310
competition, if we have like as a country, we are

642
00:40:52,310 --> 00:40:55,900
interested because it's somehow. It's

643
00:40:56,540 --> 00:41:00,060
one business, let's say, because we are inviting

644
00:41:00,140 --> 00:41:03,740
many voters, buyers, journalists, et cetera. But

645
00:41:04,380 --> 00:41:08,100
at the same time, it's for us a good opportunity to promote

646
00:41:08,100 --> 00:41:11,780
the country. So when they see that we have

647
00:41:11,780 --> 00:41:15,420
many interesting historical places, the city is

648
00:41:15,420 --> 00:41:19,220
really very nice, that the gastronomy is good in center.

649
00:41:19,220 --> 00:41:22,750
After that they decided. Then they got the

650
00:41:22,750 --> 00:41:26,070
request from different countries as well, from

651
00:41:26,070 --> 00:41:29,390
Georgia too. But they decided

652
00:41:30,430 --> 00:41:33,790
to organize it in Armenia. And

653
00:41:34,830 --> 00:41:38,590
we were with our minister, Minister of Economy

654
00:41:38,910 --> 00:41:42,190
in China. And we officially announced

655
00:41:42,510 --> 00:41:46,030
that the next year Armenia route was the competition

656
00:41:47,130 --> 00:41:50,890
for us. It's not only just to make

657
00:41:50,890 --> 00:41:54,730
the business platform for our producers. For

658
00:41:54,730 --> 00:41:58,330
us is more important to promote the country, to

659
00:41:58,330 --> 00:42:01,770
promote our wines in the wine region and to

660
00:42:01,850 --> 00:42:05,450
get our position in Winelab

661
00:42:05,690 --> 00:42:08,810
that Armenia is also winemaking country,

662
00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:15,560
very good quality wines. And

663
00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:19,800
yes, why not when we are talking about

664
00:42:19,880 --> 00:42:23,468
our history, like when we are talking about these 600,

665
00:42:23,598 --> 00:42:27,240
6000, 100 years winemaking traditions.

666
00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:31,080
Everyone, just the second question is why we don't

667
00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:34,760
know you if you have this history and

668
00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:38,120
traditions, why we don't know about Armenian. So it's a good

669
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:41,500
opportunity for them to, instead of talking about

670
00:42:42,540 --> 00:42:46,300
our traditions, country etched, to

671
00:42:46,300 --> 00:42:50,060
give this gamut opportunity to come and to discover the country.

672
00:42:50,620 --> 00:42:54,260
And also trying. Now we are working

673
00:42:54,260 --> 00:42:57,500
on agenda and trying to make agenda

674
00:42:58,300 --> 00:43:00,860
not only for the

675
00:43:01,580 --> 00:43:05,100
guests, but also for local people as well. Because

676
00:43:07,980 --> 00:43:11,780
every time after interviews I give me this question why

677
00:43:11,780 --> 00:43:15,460
I am talking about things. But when I do the

678
00:43:15,460 --> 00:43:18,860
interview and talking about this, I want to also

679
00:43:19,500 --> 00:43:23,100
say that fortunately it's

680
00:43:24,220 --> 00:43:26,860
developing in the country, but wine

681
00:43:27,500 --> 00:43:31,100
consumption in local market is not so high. We have huge

682
00:43:31,100 --> 00:43:34,680
potential even in local market. But

683
00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:38,600
still our fathers, our grandfathers, they

684
00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:42,000
drink vodka. And now we are competing with

685
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:45,720
vodka and trying to change this culture in local market.

686
00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:50,080
So this competition will also give

687
00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:53,000
us opportunity once again to

688
00:43:53,640 --> 00:43:57,080
present in local market. This is our,

689
00:43:57,880 --> 00:44:01,440
let's say, national

690
00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:05,280
drink. It's a national for us. It's not just

691
00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:08,960
alcoholic beverage. It's culture, it's history,

692
00:44:09,840 --> 00:44:13,440
it's tourism. And we will

693
00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:17,120
try to bring local people with these international people

694
00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:20,880
together and to give this

695
00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:24,760
nice mood to everyone that they can feel that this

696
00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:28,590
is one country, the wine. Well, I already got my room

697
00:44:28,670 --> 00:44:32,470
at the Alexandria for five days, so we're

698
00:44:32,470 --> 00:44:36,110
ready to come. But it has, you know, we're almost out of time

699
00:44:36,110 --> 00:44:39,910
already. Can you believe that? But I did want to. I did

700
00:44:39,910 --> 00:44:43,590
want to know, like since this happened and I've seen some press, I've

701
00:44:43,590 --> 00:44:47,390
seen some stuff. Civil Net did something. I think

702
00:44:47,390 --> 00:44:51,150
that Zartun Media did a couple things, but the rest

703
00:44:51,150 --> 00:44:54,440
of the world that has there been a positive,

704
00:44:55,560 --> 00:44:59,160
a positive response to the awarding of

705
00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:01,960
the. Of the tasting in Yerevan.

706
00:45:03,640 --> 00:45:07,480
People as the press embraced this and said, hey, this is a

707
00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:11,000
great thing. Yeah, yeah. Because during

708
00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:13,960
these 10 years we are

709
00:45:14,200 --> 00:45:18,040
actively supporting and organizing the festivals,

710
00:45:18,710 --> 00:45:21,990
many master classes, many educational

711
00:45:21,990 --> 00:45:25,550
programs, like we even

712
00:45:25,550 --> 00:45:29,030
have TV program about winemaking,

713
00:45:29,030 --> 00:45:32,150
about wines, about regions, etc.

714
00:45:32,710 --> 00:45:36,230
Trying to also promote

715
00:45:36,630 --> 00:45:40,310
our wines in local market. So, and we

716
00:45:40,310 --> 00:45:42,710
see that, you know,

717
00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:47,920
the consumption is increasing. Like in 2014

718
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:52,240
it was 1.2,

719
00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:55,920
but in

720
00:45:56,240 --> 00:46:00,320
2022

721
00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:05,280
this became worldwide 22, it's like

722
00:46:05,280 --> 00:46:09,120
25. It became almost fast. Literally, it's not

723
00:46:10,590 --> 00:46:14,270
we want to reach, but the same time we see that, we see

724
00:46:14,270 --> 00:46:16,430
that it's increased, but

725
00:46:17,950 --> 00:46:21,390
it's. It's Became lifestyle. It's

726
00:46:21,390 --> 00:46:24,510
became for the young, especially for the young generation.

727
00:46:24,990 --> 00:46:28,670
It's somehow lifestyle too because we have so many

728
00:46:29,230 --> 00:46:32,110
wine bars, restaurants like

729
00:46:32,990 --> 00:46:36,830
and they promoting the wine. The people just like to see

730
00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:40,880
the outside and drink the wine. But it's not

731
00:46:41,440 --> 00:46:44,560
my niche to which I want that Armenians

732
00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:48,880
also drink the wine at their home

733
00:46:49,600 --> 00:46:53,279
during the dinner, during the lunch, etc. Not only in the restaurant

734
00:46:53,279 --> 00:46:55,440
and wine bars outside of the

735
00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:00,560
home, but also inside of their

736
00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:05,190
houses, their home with the family, with the friends, friends, et cetera.

737
00:47:05,510 --> 00:47:09,270
So now we actually want to

738
00:47:09,270 --> 00:47:12,990
promote it as well. Yeah. You know, it's

739
00:47:12,990 --> 00:47:16,630
interesting because I when I give speeches, etc, I I start

740
00:47:16,630 --> 00:47:20,430
with usually saying something like if you were to try

741
00:47:20,430 --> 00:47:23,830
and define a culture, you probably pick

742
00:47:24,310 --> 00:47:27,950
a language which Armenia has a language. You pick land, if you still

743
00:47:27,950 --> 00:47:31,090
have land, Armea has land. You would pick cuisine

744
00:47:32,210 --> 00:47:35,890
and maybe music and then wine. Or not in that order

745
00:47:35,890 --> 00:47:39,570
necessarily. But wine certainly is an expression and

746
00:47:39,570 --> 00:47:43,250
should be and always will be an expression of a culture.

747
00:47:43,730 --> 00:47:47,090
And having you on the show, huh.

748
00:47:47,570 --> 00:47:51,010
So just remember that one of our producer

749
00:47:51,890 --> 00:47:55,370
from Van we had a discussion with the

750
00:47:55,370 --> 00:47:58,970
politics and we are talking about importance of the sector, et

751
00:47:58,970 --> 00:48:01,570
cetera. And Frances had this is not the

752
00:48:03,890 --> 00:48:07,570
tech business that you can close

753
00:48:07,570 --> 00:48:11,170
your notebook and go to Dubai and

754
00:48:11,490 --> 00:48:15,010
work somewhere. So this is the business that we

755
00:48:15,250 --> 00:48:17,970
investing so much maybe for our

756
00:48:18,370 --> 00:48:21,410
grandchilds and such because

757
00:48:21,810 --> 00:48:24,770
it's a long term investment and we are

758
00:48:25,570 --> 00:48:29,090
not only investing for our business, we are investing in the region.

759
00:48:29,250 --> 00:48:32,640
We are creating this brand like the

760
00:48:32,800 --> 00:48:36,240
tourism is also developing

761
00:48:36,320 --> 00:48:40,120
because of the production etc. Etc. So as you mentioned was

762
00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:43,600
just not the product. This is

763
00:48:43,920 --> 00:48:47,640
something totally different and they

764
00:48:47,640 --> 00:48:51,440
should understand this. There are people who are making

765
00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:55,240
decisions. I'm going to tell you a story and

766
00:48:55,240 --> 00:48:58,930
then we'll finish. Then I want you to stay on just a couple

767
00:48:58,930 --> 00:49:02,170
minutes. But I had a master

768
00:49:02,170 --> 00:49:05,930
sommelier here and there's only 400 in the world. And

769
00:49:05,930 --> 00:49:09,370
he's a very well known. His name is Emmanuel Kamigi. He makes wine in

770
00:49:09,370 --> 00:49:13,090
Pirarat, Spain. And he went to the a very

771
00:49:13,090 --> 00:49:16,650
famous wine shop in California, in Sacramento, owned by

772
00:49:16,650 --> 00:49:20,450
Darrell Corte, who's a very well known, probably one of the preeminent port

773
00:49:21,090 --> 00:49:24,720
knowledge base in the world. Anyway, what

774
00:49:24,720 --> 00:49:27,920
Darrell poured him was an Armenian wine, I don't know which one.

775
00:49:28,640 --> 00:49:32,360
And Emmanuel Kamiji as a master psalm in his

776
00:49:32,360 --> 00:49:35,840
brain said wow, I've got to learn about this

777
00:49:35,840 --> 00:49:39,519
place because I'd never heard of wines from there.

778
00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:43,640
At the same time he's telling himself and I have to learn how to

779
00:49:43,640 --> 00:49:47,480
compete with them because this wine is really good. And I'm making wine

780
00:49:47,480 --> 00:49:51,060
in Spain and now I have a new competitor, so to speak, in the

781
00:49:51,060 --> 00:49:54,780
marketplace. And that was, I thought that was a very strong and

782
00:49:54,940 --> 00:49:58,700
thought out, you know, response to tasting a good Armenian wine.

783
00:49:58,940 --> 00:50:02,780
People are noticing and people are seeing it. A guy like him that gets to

784
00:50:02,780 --> 00:50:06,300
taste them and say that to himself is telling you a lot.

785
00:50:06,860 --> 00:50:10,220
And so it's been a, it's been such a pleasure. It's already been almost an

786
00:50:10,220 --> 00:50:13,900
hour to have you on. Maybe we'll do it again in Armenia when we

787
00:50:13,900 --> 00:50:17,460
come and visit you. I want to use this opportunity

788
00:50:17,460 --> 00:50:20,950
and invite you to come and to be one of the

789
00:50:20,950 --> 00:50:24,790
judges of congressman there. I will ask our organizers

790
00:50:25,110 --> 00:50:28,950
send you official vision and you will join

791
00:50:28,950 --> 00:50:31,910
us during this amazing event. And I'm

792
00:50:32,550 --> 00:50:36,230
again sure that you will be impressed of the

793
00:50:36,230 --> 00:50:39,990
country also Hawaiian region and also

794
00:50:40,070 --> 00:50:43,670
have this opportunity to meet the people

795
00:50:43,670 --> 00:50:46,720
from 6, 65 countries.

796
00:50:47,520 --> 00:50:51,240
It'd be an honor to do that. And I've, I'm, I'm humbled by

797
00:50:51,240 --> 00:50:54,160
that comment. I appreciate that and I would certainly

798
00:50:55,360 --> 00:50:58,160
do it. I also wanted to talk to you.

799
00:50:59,440 --> 00:51:02,480
We'll talk about it after we. I turn off the recorder. But

800
00:51:03,520 --> 00:51:07,320
it's just so fascinating and I, it's, it's really exciting

801
00:51:07,320 --> 00:51:10,160
to be, to see it. You know,

802
00:51:12,170 --> 00:51:15,130
I've done this for 35 years and you know, this is the first time

803
00:51:15,850 --> 00:51:19,410
you see an emergence of it. You know, there's New Zealand came on board in

804
00:51:19,410 --> 00:51:22,890
Australia and all that. But this is a real grassroots,

805
00:51:23,930 --> 00:51:27,610
you know, in the, in the, let's call it in the soil

806
00:51:28,890 --> 00:51:32,650
attempt and renaissance of

807
00:51:33,610 --> 00:51:37,170
a wine. And that was a word that Maryam Sagatalian used on a

808
00:51:37,170 --> 00:51:40,970
podcast. And I think that's a great word. It's a renaissance of an industry

809
00:51:42,500 --> 00:51:46,260
that's been. But isn't that weird? It's been around for 6,000 years.

810
00:51:46,500 --> 00:51:50,340
It's a true renaissance. Right? It's really coming back.

811
00:51:52,260 --> 00:51:56,060
We presented in Congressman in

812
00:51:56,060 --> 00:51:59,700
China the country, the oldest New east wine country.

813
00:52:00,900 --> 00:52:04,580
It's also very interesting, the oldest, newest because yes,

814
00:52:04,580 --> 00:52:08,150
we have everything that proving that we are one of the

815
00:52:08,150 --> 00:52:11,950
oldest, even if not the oldest one, but the

816
00:52:11,950 --> 00:52:15,790
same time, to be honest, everything is

817
00:52:15,790 --> 00:52:19,470
happening during these 15 years. And it's amazing that

818
00:52:19,710 --> 00:52:23,270
the result, what we reached during these 15

819
00:52:23,270 --> 00:52:27,110
years. It's amazing. Thanks to our, again, thanks to our winemakers,

820
00:52:27,110 --> 00:52:30,910
thanks to these people who are doing this amazing job and

821
00:52:30,910 --> 00:52:34,040
helping out for our country to be

822
00:52:34,120 --> 00:52:37,320
recognized as a really very good quality mind

823
00:52:37,320 --> 00:52:41,120
processing country. It's such an honor to have

824
00:52:41,120 --> 00:52:44,360
you on the show and I look forward to us meeting in person

825
00:52:45,080 --> 00:52:48,680
soon. And say hi to Vagan for me. I look forward to

826
00:52:48,760 --> 00:52:52,600
chatting with him. I was unable to make his seminar the night

827
00:52:52,600 --> 00:52:56,400
after, and I didn't get a chance to meet your daughter. But I was hoping

828
00:52:56,400 --> 00:53:00,190
to do that. But we will do that, if not

829
00:53:00,190 --> 00:53:03,790
before May. In May. It's in

830
00:53:03,790 --> 00:53:07,070
May. It's. It will be end of the May. It's

831
00:53:07,070 --> 00:53:09,950
19-19-23. So

832
00:53:10,750 --> 00:53:14,590
free. Just put in your calendar and maybe during

833
00:53:14,749 --> 00:53:18,350
this you will get official invitation for us.

834
00:53:18,750 --> 00:53:22,430
We pay on. Well.

835
00:53:22,430 --> 00:53:25,470
Very kind. Thank you. Thank you. And cheers.

836
00:53:26,110 --> 00:53:26,750
Cheers.